AT&T; May Offer Early Retirement Incentives

American Telephone & Telegraph, continuing its campaign to cut costs, said Thursday that it is talking to its two major unions about an early-retirement program that for the first time would be offered to non-management employees.

“We’re exploring it right now,” AT&T; spokesman Burke Stinson acknowledged. “We have a fistful of plans right now but no handshake on any one of them.”

Interest in a new early-retirement plan aimed at non-management levels surfaced last year, he said, after the telecommunications giant offered a pension sweetener that was accepted by about 12,500 managers--37% of those eligible. Stinson did not disclose how many of the company’s 165,000 non-management employees might be affected nor when an early-retirement plan might be offered.

Analyst Gregory Sawers of Sanford C. Bernstein said any new plan would likely most affect “the equipment and corporate areas” rather than long-distance telecommunications. “It will not change the outlook for long distance and earnings,” he predicted. Sawers estimated that 15,000 to 18,000 workers would leave AT&T; payrolls this year.

Stuart Crane of Gruntal & Co. said fewer than 10,000 people would likely be affected.

Tom Hickman, a spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, declined to comment on the talks but said the idea of offering inducements for its members to retire early “is obviously something we’re not opposed to.” (The company’s other main union, Communications Workers of America, had no comment.)

The efforts represent another step in AT&T;’s campaign to cut costs and consolidate, Stinson said.